Subscribe to this blog

Follow by Email

Search This Blog

Salad Making 101

A few years back I gave a class on salad making to a group of women keen on healthy eating. As I set about picking the recipes for the class, I set thinking what constitutes a perfect salad for me. For I have rarely turned to recipes when making a salad. I just find the combinations that work.

And how do you find those combinations, my class asked. And here's my answer, my philosophy of salad making.

I think of a salad as four distinct constituents.

1. First comes the base. The lettuce of a green salad, the macroni in a pasta salad, bread in panzanella - these are the ingredients that define what the salad is.

2. Next is what I call fillers. These are ingredients (maybe one, but usually 2-3) that complement the base. And I dont just mean complement here in taste. Think looks, think color, think what will make your salad beautiful. What I do is find flavors that work together, and yet have colors that constrast.

3. The third item on my list is what I can only describe as flavor bursts. This is something that really packs a punch, even when used in really small quantities. I am talking about herbs, nuts, a drizzle of chesse. The possibilities are endless. Just remember we are looking for a conflicting flavor here - the bigger the flavor shock, the better for our salad.

4. Finally comes the dressing. The debate between mayonnaise lovers and vinaigrette lovers will go on until eternity, so go ahead and pick what works best for you.

Now that we are done with this mini lecture on salad making, lets make a salad that turns all this thinking on its head. A confused, thoroughly mixed-up (for who's to say what's base and what's filler here) yet imminently likeable salad. Let's make the classic greek salad.

First collect all ingredients. Wash and pat dry romaine lettuce leaves. If you have largish leaves, tear them (never take a knife to lettuce, but you know that already!). Keep small leaves as is.

Next peel and chop a cucumber in cubes. Also chop a scallion. Wash some cherry tomatoes, take some olives out of that can and cube some feta. For color, use bright red tomatoes and black olives. I went for flavor instead and picked yellow cherry tomatoes and green olives. Plonk everything into a salad bowl and then make your dressing.

Mix 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar with as much salt and pepper as you like, pour over your salad and toss to finish.

Popular posts from this blog

I have a friend who is quite the globetrotter. Lunches at her place, often right after her trips, are a treasure trove of global flavours. But the last time we met, she was just back from Tamil Nadu and out she brought a bowl of curd rice. I love curd rice and have eaten a lot of it over the years but my friend's version was so full of flavours and textures, it was a revelation. Obviously, I asked for the recipe.

The genius of this curd rice lies in adding the tempering or the tadka twice, once to mix in the rice so it absorbs all the flavours. Then you make a second batch to top the rice with just before you serve, so it adds crunch to the usually mushy dish. The recipe also has a few other elements added in for texture, freshness and flavour.

I over-ate at lunch at my friend's and I over-ate again when I made this for myself for lunch. Plus, all the ingredients you need are likely in your kitchen already so you may as well go make it now.

I know there hasn't been a new recipe on these pages for a while. But worry not, I'm back with a real zinger. Earthy, creamy, crunchy - this is an appetizer that ticks all the right boxes. And if you happen to be a mushroom lover like me, this is the best way to eat mushrooms I've found so far. I present to you, for all your year end parties and appetizer cravings - creamy mushroom pate on toast.

Its mushroom pate two way - just on its own and panko-crumbed and fried. Both go on a crisp garlic baguette with watercress and some kewpie mayonnaise. Here's the recipe.

I met Wesley at noon on a sunny day in May at the entrance to Tyrna village. The meeting had been three months in the making. Back in February, I had seen the pictures a friend posted from a trekking trip to Meghalaya. I'd been so taken in by the double decker living roots bridge that I immediately called Chalohoppo, the travel company she had gone with, and booked a trip for myself.

I'm not a trekker which means that instead of the rugged trip my friend had taken, I had arrived at a compromise. We will start the trip with the trek and then spend the rest of our stay in Meghalaya at a nice lakeside resort just outside Shillong. Which means that the day before I met Wesley, I'd landed in Guwahati and been met at the airport by a friendly Chalohoppo driver for a four hour drive to Cherrapunjee.

On arriving at the Sai Mika resort, nestled in the middle of mountains, I called the number I'd been given and was greeted by a friendly, enthusiastic voice of our guide for the tre…